No surprise there.
Yes, I would. For as long as I have been on this forum, NEVER have I deny any country the right to feel threatened by US. They want to attack US out of that fear ? Go ahead.
All countries are paranoid. No country could afford not to be.
The first Al Qaeda WTC attack was the underground garage bomb truck in 1993. Then came Sept 11, 2001. That is 8 yrs passed. What do you think we have been doing all those yrs ?
The Taliban finally gained majority control of Afghanistan in 1996, but the Taliban was already in prominence before that.
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/taliban-afghanistan
The US negotiated with anyone in Afghanistan who could and would do what we want regarding Al Qaeda in general and Osama bin Laden in particular. Plenty of books have been written about Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, either directly about or Al Qaeda figured prominently. Probably the definitive biography of the Taliban is 'Taliban' by Ahmed Rashid, which I have in my little home library.
Would you like me to cite Chapter 1 on the origin yr of when the Taliban, as a movement and a group, gain such a prominence that pretty much anyone who want anything to do with Afghanistan must deal with the Taliban ?
Would you like me to cite Chapter 10 where Osama bin Laden established an Al Qaeda base in 1989 ?
I probably read more than you do.
It does not matter. The fact that Afghanistan was used by Al Qaeda, whether the Taliban was involved or even knew or not, is the only relevant thing here. The fact that we petitioned the Taliban regarding Al Qaeda is evident that we nominally respect the international order. Whoever is in charge, would you help US about Osama bin Laden ?
So what ? Does that mean we were supposed to do nothing after 9/11 ?
In less than 100 days, we lay waste to the Taliban as an effective governing body of Afghanistan. But we waited a decade and it took an attack on US to compel US to act militarily.
That is bullshit and everyone knew it then and know it now. You will NEVER convince anyone of that. If there are any ISI readers out there, they are laughing hysterically.